Law Enforcement Case of the Week

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

About 8 years ago I was diving the Adolphus Busch off of Cudjoe Key when two men were spearing Snook. One of them was aiming at a Snook and I was in his line of fire.
We surfaced and got the numbers from the bow of the boat and called FWC on a cell phone. I explained what I saw and of course provided them with the boat registration numbers.

FWC officers met them at the dock where the boat was docked, at the owners' private residence. FWC consficated the boat and all on the boat were charged with shooting Snook.

High price to pay for illegally shooting Snook.

 

[iluvtheocean]

there appears to be more to the story than we are being told - "Customs and Border Protection agents stopped a vessel with a multitude of resource violations"

that phrase is the key... Customs wouldn't normally stop a boat unless they suspected something was going on that would concern them

could have come in from the Bahamas...

 

[The Chairman]

I was thinking the same thing when they mentioned that some of them had been speared. That's allowed in the Bahamas, but not here in the US. I wonder what the laws are in regard to critters caught elsewhere but brought in here for consumption?

 

[iluvtheocean]

I was thinking the same thing when they mentioned that some of them had been speared. That's allowed in the Bahamas, but not here in the US. I wonder what the laws are in regard to critters caught elsewhere but brought in here for consumption?

http://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/bahamas/

Conch:
Queen conch is considered a protected species in Florida. Even though Bahamian rules allow the possession of 6 conch per vessel, there is no exception which allows private recreational vessels to bring queen conch back to Florida from the Bahamas (68B-16.003(1)), even if lawfully purchased there. Contact the US Fish and Wildlife Service for their regulations if you wish to transport conch by air carrier back to Florida or other locations in the U.S. (CITES documents may be required.)
Lobster:
The Bahamian VESSEL possession limit is 10. Bahamian rules allow you to possess whole or tailed lobster while in or on Bahamian waters; however, when returning to Florida the lobster you bring back must be in whole condition (head and tail intact). You may only bring back whole lobster, and only during the open season in Florida, August 6th – March 31st. (68B-24.005(1)). Lobster lawfully harvested by spear in the Bahamas can be returned to Florida.

So if you spear lobster legally in the Bahamas - you can bring them back to the US but whole only -- and you got to be able to prove that you were in the Bahamas.

 

[The Chairman]

Well, that's good to know! Thanks for bird dogging the info.